Pol: Divorce leads to teen sex

Iowa Republicans are pushing to eliminate no-fault divorce for parents in the state, with one lawmaker citing his fear that his granddaughter could become “promiscuous” after her parents split up.

“This basically is an attempt on my part to keep fathers in the home,” GOP state Rep. Tedd Gassman said at a hearing on the legislation, according to Radio Iowa. “I sincerely believe that the family is the foundation of this nation and this nation will go the direction of our families. If our families break up, so will this nation.”

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Gassman is sponsoring the bill along with six other Republicans. A three-person subcommittee voted to approve the bill Monday, and a full committee could hear the bill later this week.

Gassman cited his daughter’s recent divorce as a reason he was pushing the bill.

“There’s a 16-year-old girl in this whole mix now,” Gassman said. “Guess what? What are the possibilities of her being more promiscuous? What are the possibilities of all these other things surrounding her life that a 16-year-old girl, with hormones raging, can get herself into?”

Under the law, one of the partners in a marriage would have show that their spouse was guilty of adultery, had been convicted of a felony or had abandoned the family for a full year to qualify for a divorce. Parents could also get a divorce after living apart for two years.

No-fault divorce, which allows a couple to split without any evidence of wrongdoing, is a relatively recent development in the United States. Ronald Reagan signed the first no-fault divorce law as governor of California in 1969, and the 49 other states have adopted the measure since. (New York was the last do so, in 2010.)

Domestic violence victims’ groups are battling the bill, arguing the law could make life more dangerous for victims. According to the Iowa legislature’s website, the Family Leader — a social conservative group that made waves in the 2012 Republican caucus — supports the legislation.